VYPYR 75 Modeling Combo Amp

I bought this little beauty as a super handy, lightweight practice amp I can just throw in the car and go. What I discovered is an amp that sounds way better than it has any right to for this cheap a price (I paid around $280 new on eBay). Sure, it’s not as bulletproof as bigger amps so you have to treat it carefully. The stock speaker is harsh and overly bright, but it actually cuts through a band amazingly well for it’s size if you just want a raunchy rock/metal amp. I enjoy a much more upscale overdrive sound ala Robben Ford (my other amp is a Fuchs Overdrive Supreme!). I ran the Vox headphone output into the effects return of the Fuchs one day, and I couldn’t believe how nice it sounded! The first few models on the dial bring up some very sweet sounding clean tones and some delicious overdriven Fenders – the Super Reverb overdriven is a standout. The AC 30s are both awesome, both clean and overdriven. I’m not a metal fan, but some of the really heavy super distortion tones are actually a lot of fun. And all those effects, while not having a lot of flexibility, are easy to use and sound very good. I eventually stuck an Eminence Ramrod speaker in this baby, which really tames the harsher digital overtones of the amp and makes it really sweet. Another nice thing is the Ramrod is much more efficient than the stock speaker, and is almost as loud, even at 8 ohms/15 watts (the stock speaker, as per the owner’s manual, is 4, yes four, ohms, which pushes the amp to 30 watts). It’s plenty loud with just the Ramrod for rock band practice, but for fun, I went ahead and added an external speaker jack (I am a bit of a tinkerer), so now I can hook up an additional, hi-quality 8 ohm speaker cabinet to use all 30 watts, providing more clean headroom and a serious bottom end. This thing now makes an awesome practice amp and a very capable and very portable backup amp for gigs! I have used it running it into the Fuchs amp as stated above for heavier rock gigs, and it kicks butt! I am always amazed at how much fun I have using this amp.

The VT30 is an amazingly versatile amp whether your music stylings are tame or raunchy. While it offers lots of guitar models and presets, the beauty of this amp is found when you explore in manual mode. To me all those amp models represent nothing more than a starting point to find what works for me on any given day. I find something in the ballpark of what my ears want to hear, and then I dial in the rest with the gain and tone controls. The attentuator allows me to keep it quiet when needed, and yes you can dial the models to emulate tube break up… i.e. play softy for cleaner tone, and dig in when you want some edgy crunch.

One trick I learned is to run the guitar through a clean overdrive pedal (I use a Bad Monkey) into the amp to smooth out high gain chords and blissfully fatten the high gain leads. While the amp is great already, the overdrive just makes it that much closer to perfection for high gain settings.

I just picked up this little beauty a couple weeks ago from a local guitar shop. I really love the built in 22 amp settings as well as an integrated effects pedal. Saves a ton of money. The 30 watt power supply is plenty of volume for practicing or a small gig.

The only words of caution I would have are this: 1. There isn’t a line-out (other than the headphone jack) so you can’t use this as just a pre-amp and run it to a sound board or anything; you would have to still get an effects pedal if you needed it for that, 2. It isn’t made for huge gigs, 30 watts is plenty of power at home and at church but if you’re playing big gigs with a crazy drummer, you’re going to want to go with something with some more oomph.

Overall I love this amp. You can’t beat the price; so it is a wonderful value and a trusted brand.